Railway mail-delivery



' H. E. SMITH. RAILWAY MAIL DELIVERY. 'APPLICATION FILED JULY 28, 1919.

Patented Sept. 21,1920,

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I acceptable railway mail devices now in use.-

UETE; ;s,TAT E's HERBERT EnsMlTH, OF SPOKA'NE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO SPOKANE I MEN'I COMPANY, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

PATENT *FEIQE- RAILWAY MAIL-DELIVERY.

Application filed July 2 8, 1919. Serial No. 313,936.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. SMrrrna citizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Mail- Delivery, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in railway mail delivery and especially to that part of the equipment carried by the railway car for delivery of the mail pouch to cooperating mechanism located at the railway station, and the device of the present invention is especially adaptedfor use in connection with the device forming the subject matter of another invention and contemporary application for patent. While the present device is especially adapted for use as described, yet it is capable of effective operation and manipulation in the delivery of mail pouches in connection with other The present invention involves the utilization of a simple construction and structure whereby the shock of impact, received as the mail is exchanged, is absorbed as the oscillatable or rotatable delivery device swings, by a pair of springs, and the pouch supporting arms are also provided with .ree

lease devices providing novel combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter explained;

In the accompanying drawings one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention is illustrated, the delivery device being depicted as attached at one end I of a railway car especially adapted for one impact of receiving a pouch will swing the track travel, the device being located at the front and left side of the car so that the crane or delivery arms around to the doorway. A spring is provided to hold the crane or delivery device in projected position, and an operating lever is utilized to pull the crane in, when not under impact, all as will be more particularly specified and claimed. Figure l is a view in elevation showing the rotatable delivery device swung in to position for access from the doorway of the car.

Fig. 2 is a view taken transversely of the car showing the open doorway, the delivery .for holding the delivery Fig. 3 is a top'plan view of the device in projected position ready tolexchangeimail pouches.

Fig. 4 is a-detail view of one ofthe pouch 1 AIL EQUIP- Specificationof Letters men; Patented Sept. 21,19 29. Y

retaining and releasing devices onthc deliv i cry arms.

The rotatable delivery device'as carried by the car C includesthe upright standard or shaft 1 that is rotatable or oscillatahle in the bearings 2, 2, secured firmly on the outsidewall of the car adjacent the doorway and forward of the doorway in the direction of travel of the car.

justably secured in the socket 4 on the shaft The delivery device comprises-an upper supporting arm 3 ad l, and the lower'supporting arm 5 adjust downwardly respectively, and except for this difl'erence, they each eomp'rise a pair-of spr ng pressed jaws 19, a;bolt 10 -passed through the j awsand through; the arm a clamping spring 1-1surrounding-the bolt, and

a retaining nut 12 on the bolt' for the spring. Thus the jaws are adapted to receive a ring attached at the end of the mail pouch, and the spring pressingon the jaws retains the ring with sufficient pressure to hold the pouch against dislodgment by wind pressure as the car travels, but. when the impact .of the pouch striking the receiving forks causes the pouch to double-up, one of the upper jaws is pulled down and one of the lower jaws is pulled up against the tension of their respective springs, and the upper and lower rings of the pouch are thus freed and slide off their respective jaws.

The lower arm is provided with a catcher fork or receiving fork to receive the pouch from the station equipment, the fork being indicated at 13, and the fork at the station may be of the same substantial construction, it being understood thatv the standard mail pouches have a restricted midde or waist which adapts them to be received by these forks. 7

Within the interior of the car an operat ing lever 14 is provided to co-act with the segmental rack 14 and has a cable '15 passing over a guide pulley 16 and through the car wall to the lever arm 17 at the upper After'the pouch is placed in position the device is swung around to projected position, at right anglesto the car wall, as in Fig. 3, by the contractile spring 18 secured to the lever arm on the pin 19 and attached at its other end to the eye bolt 20 projecting from the car Wall, the operating lever, however, being manipulated to permit this movement. spring 18, a supplemental spring 21 is used, which is attached to the pin 19, but has a chain 22 connecting it to the eyebolt 20, and inasmuch as the contractile spring 18 is always under tension while the spring 21 is only under tension when the delivery device is swung, by impact, or otherwise,.to its extreme position as indicated in Fig. 1, it will be apparent that the first swinging motion of the delivery device as it delivers a pouch, or as it receives the impact of a pouch delivered to it, is against the tension of the spring 18 only, but as the movement progresses the supplemental spring'Ql is stretched under tension thus retarding and finally stopping the swinging motion of the device as its arms, loaded with a received pouch, or unloaded, swing into the door way. As the device swings around to position of Fig. 1 the operating lever 14 may drop automatically to latch the deviceat in position, or the lever maybe -man'ipu- In addition to the'contractile lated by hand by throwing it down to position of Fig. 2 where it will hold the delivery device in the position ofFig. 1.

Inprojected positionthe delivery device is held stable between the tension spring at one side and the attached cable at the other side, and sufficient rigidity is secured to Withstand Wind pressure due to the speed of the train, and also due to the natural currents of air. The release hooks on the delivery arms, it will be noted, by the spring pressure on them'are well adapted to retain the pouch rings under normal conditions, and yet they permit an easy release of the rings under impact of exchanging mail.

1. The combination with the rotary delivery device having a lever arm and a ten sion spring urging the device to projected position, means for retracting the device, and an auxiliary spring co-acting with the first spring near the end of the movement of the device to absorb the movement of impact. f r I 2. The combination with the rotary delivery device having an operating lever arm,

a retracting lever and a cable connected to adapted to co-act with the tension spring operable near the end of the'movement of the device due to impact.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HERBERT I E. SMITH. 

